Playing the Al Capone Gambit against Fischer

3/15/2005 – It's a strategy that worked well on leading mob figures: if you can't get them, let the IRS do the job. Former world champions Fischer was initially detained in Japan because of invalid travel document, then we were told it was for breaking sanctions in 1992. Now it looks like the US government will use tax evasion and money laundering to bring him down. Reports and video.

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Originally Bobby Fischer was arrested almost eight months ago for presenting
an invalid passport at Tokyo's Narita Airport when trying to leave the country
for the Philippines. Since then he has been held in the detention facilities
of the airport and at the East Japan Immigration Bureau Detention Center in
Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture.

After a while officials said that Fischer was wanted in his homeland for playing
chess in Yugoslavia in 1992, in violation of an executive order forbidding
Americans from undertaking any commercial activities in the Balkan state, which
at the time was under international sanctions.

Now it looks like the Japanese government is holding Fisher at the request
of the US government until early April, when a grand jury will convene in the
United States to consider laying tax evasion and money laundering charges on
Fischer. If that is the case then the former world champion, although detained
on other grounds, may be extradited on these charges and will almost certainly
face heavy fines and a five to ten-year jail sentence in the US. Fischer hasn't
filed tax returns since 1976. According to CNN Fischer’s case will take place
on April 5 at the Robert N.C. Nix Sr. Federal Courthouse in Philadelphia.

Press reports

Mainichi
Daily News reported last week that the U.S. Internal Revenue
Service is about to begin legal action against Fischer. The IRS probe against
Fischer is being kept under such close wraps, officials at the U.S. Embassy
in Tokyo were not aware of it. "I haven't heard of that," U.S. Embassy
Press Attaché Michael Boyle said Friday, adding that even had he known
about the investigation he would not have been able to comment on it.

Asia
Pacific News reported in similar vein: Bobby Fischer may be
extradited to the United States to face tax evasion charges in his homeland.
The maverick genius faces 10 years in prison in the United States for playing
chess in Yugoslavia in 1992 in violation of sanctions imposed over the
Balkan wars. Washington, however, cannot have Fischer extradited on this
charge as it is not recognized as a crime in Japan. But the US government
is now moving to prosecute him for tax evasion, the Mainichi Shimbun said,
quoting an unnamed official from the US Bankruptcy Court clerk's office
at Robert N.C. Nix Sr. Federal Courthouse in Philadelphia. If he was indicted,
the chess legend could be extradited from Japan to the United States in
line with the extradition treaty between the two countries, the Japanese
daily said. The US Internal Revenue Service plans to prosecute him over
five tax evasion charges, the daily said, adding that the IRS was likely
to secure a grand jury indictment on Fischer, which would allow it to bring
charges against him. The grand jury is set to open on April 5.

AZ
Central writes: A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C.,
is investigating possible money-laundering charges involving former chess
champion Bobby Fischer, who is already wanted for violating U.S. economic
sanctions, one of his lawyers said. Federal prosecutors issued a subpoena
last week to a second lawyer, Joseph Choate Jr., who once represented Fischer,
ordering him to appear March 17 before the grand jury to discuss a "possible
violation" of money-laundering statutes. Fischer was reported to have received
$3.5 million from the event. He boasted at the time that he didn't intend
to pay any income tax on the money. Vattuone, who has been working to secure
Fischer's release from a Japanese detention center, said he believes U.S.
prosecutors are now exploring money laundering and tax charges in an attempt
to eventually extradite Fischer from Iceland or Japan.

The New
York Times also mentions the new charge: A federal grand jury
in Washington is investigating accusations of money laundering involving
the former world chess champion Bobby Fischer, who is wanted for violating
American economic sanctions, one of Mr. Fischer's lawyers said. "This is
a pure tactical and propaganda ploy," the lawyer, Richard J. Vattuone,
said on Tuesday.

John Henderson of The
Scotsman wrote us as follows: Basically tax evasion of celebs is a big
thing in the US – and usually a guaranteed slam dunk for the IRS when it
comes to prosecuting. Remember Al Capone? They couldn't get Al on any other
charges so just switched (successfully) to tax evasion. Another factor was
last year's Patriot Act by George W. This gave the US authorities access
for the first time to Swiss Bank account details – Fischer's assets and transactions
would be seen by the US authorities for the first time since 1972 when he
switched to a Swiss Bank account. They were never going to get him on the
breaking of the US sanctions for playing Spassky in 1992 – but tax evasion
was a sure thing. It also plays better on the media. It helped that he was
caught in Japan, one of the few countries the US has a bilateral treaty on
tax offenders where there would be an automatic deportation to face the music.
The authorities in the US were never going to get Fischer on simply playing
a harmless chess match against Spassky in Yugoslavia – it wasn't as if the
two were selling arms there or inciting more bloodshed? How can you justify
one guy being prosecuted and other (Spassky) being ignored? You can't sell
this in a prosecution case – it's too absurd and complicated for a jury to
comprehend.

The Al Capone Gambit

Getting
Fischer on tax evasion charges would be reminiscent of the end of one of history's
most notorious gangster bosses. In 1931 Al Capone (picture), after perpetrating
a number of extremely violent crimes but successfully evading the Prohibition
Buro and the US Treasury department (and most notably special agent Eliot Ness)
was brought down on tax evasion charges.

Initially, Capone pleaded guilty to the charges, hoping to plea bargain. But
the judge refused his lawyer's offers and Capone was found guilty on five of
twenty three counts and sentenced to ten years in a federal prison. He was
fined $50,000, charged $7692 for court costs, and $215,000 in back taxes for
tax evasion.

Capone was released in 1939, after serving seven years and paying all of his
back taxes. He died of a stroke and pneumonia on January 25, 1947.

The latest article comes from a March 15 2005 report filed by Ryann Connell
for Mainichi Daily News. In it we learn, as we had done from

Bobby
Fischer can only be expelled to U.S.,
says Immigration boss (excerpts]

Mainichi Daily News is reporting that Bobby Fischer will not be released from
Japan to any other country but the United States. This is what Immigration
Bureau Chief Masaharu Miura told the House of Councilors Committee on Diplomacy
and Defense in Tokyo on Tuesday. "He will be deported only to the country of
his citizenship," Miura said. In the first time Fischer's case has been discussed
in the Diet since his arrest at Narita Airport in July last year, Miura argued
that Article 53 of the Immigration Law says those ordered to be deported from
Japan must be sent to their homeland unless exceptional conditions apply. "We
have made the decision that this case is not an exceptional one," Miura said.

Democratic Party of Japan Upper House member Kazuya Shimba pointed out that
the main purpose of a deportation order is to get the person who it is issued
against out of the country. He then asked the Justice Ministry to explain why
Fischer was being kept at taxpayer's expense in a cell at the East Japan Immigration
Bureau Detention Center in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, when he had expressed
a willingness to leave Japan at his own expense and Iceland had said it was
willing to accept him. Miura answered only that the Immigration Law required
Fischer to be deported to his homeland, the United States.

Shimba said he felt some may see the Justice Ministry's handling of Fischer's
case as not abiding by the laws it is supposed to protect. He added that it
would not be a surprise if the ministry was accused of trying to hold Fischer
until early April, when a grand jury will convene in the United States to consider
laying tax evasion charges on America's only World Chess Champion. Shimba said
Japan's treatment of Fischer could jeopardize the drive to secure a permanent
seat on the United Nations Security Council.

Michael J. Boyle, Press Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, said that the
U.S. government has spoken to its Japanese counterpart to ensure Fischer is
returned to the United States. Fischer is wanted in his homeland for playing
chess in Yugoslavia in 1992, allegedly in violation of an Executive Order forbidding
Americans from undergoing commercial activities in the Balkan state then wracked
by civil war and under sanctions.

Kazuya Shimba of the Democratic Party of Japan making a case for Fischer

If you are able to understand Japanese you may want to watch the following
CSPAN-like clip in which Kazuya Shimba appears to be addressing the Fisher
problem in a governmental committee meeting. He comes on after about the first
third of the video stream. Anyone who can understand the proceedings is welcome
to send us a short summary (click on the news feedback link in the left navigation
of this page).

Shimba's email address, in case you want to write, is go(at)k-shimba.com

Previous ChessBase articles

Bobby
Fischer: five days in solitary confinement08.03.2005
We had just reported about Fischer's new passport, which an Icelandic
delegation had carried to Japan. A minor mystery was why it had not been
handed over to him last Wednesday, as planned. Now we learn that Japanese
authorities had put the former world champion into solitary confinement.
For five days. Over a hard-boiled egg. We
are not joking.

Fischer's
passport – to freedom?08.03.2005
March 9th is Bobby Fischer's 62nd birthday. By chance a very special
gift has arrived in Japan for the former world champion: an Icelandic
passport with which he may be able to travel to freedom after more
than six months in a Japanese detention facility. We have exclusive
pictures of the new passport.

Fischer
receives an Icelandic passport2/23/2005
Immigration authorities in Iceland have decided to issue full travel
documents for former world champion Bobby Fischer, who is being held
in Japanese detention for not possessing a valid passport. Fischer's
new passport will be sent to Japan by diplomatic mail, and a delegation
is traveling there to escort
him to Iceland.

Fischer's
lawyer Masako Suzuki speaks out02.02.2005
Is Japan buckling under pressure by the US? Bobby Fischer, 61, former
World Champion of Chess who has been jailed in Japan for six months now,
is applying for Icelandic citizenship. But Tokyo seems to be balking
at a constructive solution entailing his release to Iceland. Fischer's
lawyer Masako Suzuki has given us an exclusive
interview.

Bobby
Fischer applies for Icelandic Citizenship25.01.2005
After
the Japanese authorities last week refused Fischer's request to be extradited
to Iceland the chess legend, who is being held in a Japanese detention
facility, has today written to the President of the Icelandic Althingi
(picture), applying for Icelandic citizenship. A special law would have
to be passed to grant
Fischer's request.

Bobby
Fischer – immigration plans on ice22.01.2005
His
supporters filed a petition that Fischer might be released from detention
in a Tokyo jail and allowed to travel to Iceland, where he has been granted
refuge. But Japanese Justice Ministry lawyers said they were not prepared
to change Fischer's deportation destination to Iceland, and that he would
have to remain in detention. A
harsh blow for the chess legend.

Bobby
Fischer – six months in jail1/17/2005
On
July 13, 2004 he was arrested at Narita Airport in Tokyo, for attempting
to leave the country on an invalidated. Since then the greatest hero
of Western chess has been languishing in a Japanese detention facility,
now physically exhausted and suffering from dizzy spells. His Icelandic
friends, who are offering him refuge, have launched another appeal
to the authorities.

US
threatens Iceland, Fischer Committee appeals22.12.2004
Iceland
is under US pressure to drop plans to offer a home to fugitive former
chess champion Bobby Fischer, the Reuters news agency tells us. But the
Icelandic government has stated that its offer "will not be withdrawn
despite pressure from the United States." How do we know that? Among
other things we read it in Aljazeera, would you believe? Here's the latest
on this international
confrontation.

RJF
Committee mobilizes pro-Fischer forces18.12.2004
While Bobby Fischer remains incarcerated in a Japanese prison a special
committee in Iceland is moving to get him free and find him a home on
the North-Atlantic island country. Iceland's foreign minister and a prominent
political scientist have spoken out. Here's a report on Fischer's Iceland
Connection...

Fischer
to get refuge in Iceland?12/16/2004
The news today on Bobby Fischer, who is currently being held in a Japanese
detention facilities pending extradition to the US, is that the Icelandic
government has offered to grant him a residence permit. In a telephone
interview Fischer speaks about his plight in Japan and reacts to statements
by Garry Kasparov on Fischer Random Chess. Full
details...

Returning
to the 'scene of the crime'30.11.2004
Twelve years ago Boris Spassky played a match against Bobby Fischer in
Yugoslavia. That got Fischer into a lot of trouble, while for Spassky,
a French citizen, there were no repercussions. Now the tenth world champion
returned to Belgrade to open the Belgrade Chess Trophy. Quick
interview...

Fischer
to Bush and Koizumi: 'You are going to pay for this!'18.10.2004
Bobby Fischer, still in detention in Japan, has spoken out again in an
interview, this time threatening the Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi
and US President Bush: "You are going to pay for this, and you are going
to pay for your crimes in Iraq too." His new lawyer, Richard J. Vattuone,
plans to release documents to prove US government involvement in a
plot against Fischer.

'We
want to live together forever'01.09.2004
She collected pictures of her chess hero after his match with Boris Spassky
in 1972. One year later they met in Tokyo – the start of a romance spanning
decades. Since four years the two have lived together in downtown Kamata
in Tokyo's Ota Ward. In an exclusive interview for ChessBase Miyoko Watai
tells us the story of her life
with Bobby Fischer.

Listen
to Bobby Fischer26.08.2004
In emotional phone calls from his detention cell in Tokyo ex world champion
Bobby Fischer gave a Philippine radio station two lengthy interviews. Fischer
is facing deportation and incarceration in the US, and voices his nightmare
fears: "I will be tried, convicted, sentenced, imprisoned, tortured and
murdered." We have summary transcripts
and audio files.

Dramatic
moments around Fischer's deportation25.08.2004
First the Japanese Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa issued a deportation order
against former world champion Bobby Fischer's, then Fischer's lawyers filed
a lightning appeal on the grounds that physical deportation would be a
flagrant violation of Fischer's right to full legal recourse and protection
under Japanese law. Here's the full
story by Fischer's legal coordinator.

'Bobby
Fischer and I have decided to marry'17.08.2004
Bobby Fischer, the former world chess champion, plans to marry the president
of the Japan Chess Association (and four-time Japanese women's champion)
Miyoko Watai. This was reported in newspapers and wire services last night.
Now Watai-san has sent us a statement explaining the background of her
personal relationship with Fischer.

Fischer
renounces US citizenship15.08.2004
Bobby Fischer has been moved to a new detention facility in Tokyo, pending
a decision on his deportation to the US, where he faces a 10-year jail
sentence. A lot of new material has surfaced, including Fischer's handwritten
renouncement of his US citizenship and a blow-by-blow description and picture
of his arrest at Narita Airport. Harrowing
stuff...

Spassky
to Bush: Arrest me!10.08.2004
Boris Spassky, who played the contentious return match against Bobby Fischer
in Yugoslavia 1992, for which the latter is currently facing deportation
and incarceration in the US, has appealed to President Bush to show mercy
and charity for his tormented successor. If for some reason that should
be impossible, Spassky suggests a very
imaginative alternative...

Fischer's
appeal rejected28.07.2004
Bobby Fischer's appeal against his deportation was rejected today by Japanese
authorities. Meanwhile the Icelandic Chess Federation has appealed to US
president Bush to pardon Fischer and set up a petition web site to collect
signatures. In Tokyo a "Free Fischer Press Conference" is scheduled for
Thursday. More...

Fischer
a sacrificial pawn?25.07.2004
Bobby Fischer is still in detention at Narita Airport in Tokyo, traumatised
but stubborn, "behaving like a Samurai". At the same time news outlets
all over the world are covering the story, with Fischer's brother-in-law
Russell Targ assailing the Bush administration for playing election year
politics with the former chess champion's freedom. There's
a lot to be read...

Game
of Life: Kasparov on Fischer – in full20.07.2004
The news of Fischer's arrest in Japan came as a shock to Garry Kasparov,
who was in a holiday camp working intensely on the games of his greatest
American predecessor. In today's issue of The Wall Street Journal Kasparov
assesses Fischer's chess career – for a public that was being exposed to
his current situation. We now bring you Kasparov's
full article.

Will
Fischer be extradited?19.07.2004
Chess legend Bobby Fischer, the hero of millions, languishes in the detention
facilities of Narita Airport in Tokyo, waiting for a decision by Japanese
Immigration authorities on his deportation to the US. We have collected
all the documents and reconstructed a timeline to his arrest. Fischer,
who has no legal counsel, is appealing
for international assistance.

Bobby
Fischer detained in Japan (updated)16.07.2004
It's the latest twist in the sad tale of American former world champion
Bobby Fischer. He has been detained in Japan and faces possible deportation
to the US to face charges for playing in Yugoslavia in 1992. Fischer's
website says he was "very nearly killed" in Japan. The story has been picked
up by news services all over the
world.

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